Limited Sight Distance

Biography

As a rule, membership in a group or band comes before a solo career -- not after. Ozzy Osbourne, for example, made a name for himself as Black Sabbath's lead singer before he launched a successful solo career in the early '80s; Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr were members of the Beatles before they became full-time solo artists. And Lionel Richie was a lead singer for the Commodores before he went solo. But Stefanie Fix, on the other hand, did things the opposite way -- the East Coast singer/songwriter (who plays both acoustic and electric guitar) had been recording as a solo artist for several years when, in 2002, she founded the group Limited Sight Distance (LSD). As a solo artist, Fix (who went by Stefanie Gleit before she got married) favored a folk-oriented approach and was perfectly comfortable playing introspective songs in small coffeehouses. After recording two folk-oriented solo albums for her own Hand-to-Mouth label -- Footprints in the Sky in 1996 and Survival in 1999 and 2000 -- she decided to try something totally different with LSD. As LSD's lead singer/founder, Fix favors alternative pop/rock that is very psychedelic-influenced. LSD's songs are moody, spacy, and melodic, and the band's influences (either direct or indirect) range from Radiohead to '60s and '70s icons such as Jefferson Airplane (as opposed to Jefferson Starship), Pink Floyd, and the Beatles (mainly their psychedelic work instead of their early recordings). Although LSD is Fix's outfit, she has some help from guitarist Kevin McMahon; in 2002, McMahon produced and engineered LSD's self-titled debut EP, which Fix released on Hand-to-Mouth. The EP's other participants include, among others, keyboardist Justin Russo, pianist Adam Snyder, and bassist John Parker. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide